Belgian father wins back EUR 15,000 baby

26 October 2005

BRUSSELS – A Dutch court ruled on Wednesday that a baby sold for EUR 15,000 should not be placed in the care of a Dutch couple who paid a surrogate mother for a child.

Oudenaarde Children’s Court in Belgium had already ordered baby Donna, born in February, to be returned to her country of birth.

However, the Dutch couple who paid the surrogate mother for her appealed the decision at Utrecht court, near to their home in Leusden.

The baby’s natural mother, who lives in Limbourg in Belgium, originally agreed to give Donna to a Flemish couple in Herk-de-Stad for EUR 10,000. But she changed her mind at the last minute and offered her to a gay couple who did not want the baby.

Later, she sold her daughter to the highest bidder – the Dutch couple – before changing her mind again and deciding she wanted to keep her child.

The Belgian couple had also pinned their hopes on the courts naming them the legitimate parents, but on Wednesday, news agency Belga reported that Utrecht court had finally ruled that Donna’s best interests were with her genetic father.

Subject: Belgian news